Internet phenomenon, ACLU, Christian Coalition urge Congress to save the Internet
Chairman Conyers says 'Congress should act to preserve Net Neutrality'
Internet musical phenomenon OK Go today urged Congress to support Net Neutrality - the longstanding principle that prevents Internet service providers from interfering with users' legal Internet traffic.
Catapulted to national fame via the popularity of their YouTube videos, OK Go band members spoke out on Capitol Hill to ensure that musicians can continue to use the Internet to connect with their fans - free from interference by phone and cable companies. OK Go is a member of the pro-Net Neutrality RocktheNet Coalition along with more than 800 other bands and musicians.
"If people wonder whether the music industry will benefit from Net Neutrality they can look no further than us," said OK Go's lead singer and guitarist Damian Kulash in testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee. "There is a real consensus with us that Net Neutrality is good for music. I'm here to ask Congress today to preserve Net Neutrality and the future of the Internet."
OK Go met with Senate staffers on Monday at a briefing that included Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), co-sponsor of bipartisan Net Neutrality legislation in the Senate.
At today's House hearing, Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) voiced support for Net Neutrality; "Congress should act to preserve Net Neutrality. I am concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon find ourselves living in a world where those who pay can play, but those who don't are simply out of luck. Let's not get confused. If Congress acts, it will not be because we have decided to regulate. It will be because the Internet service providers have imposed their own new regulation on the Internet, and are interfering with its healthy growth."
In addition to OK Go's Kulash, the House hearing included Net Neutrality advocates from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Christian Coalition of America.
"There is a growing bipartisan outcry for Congress to promptly enact meaningful Net Neutrality legislation that protects the rights of all Internet users to send and receive lawful content, free of censorship," said Caroline Fredrickson, legislative director of the ACLU. "Without these protections, the Internet will be transformed from a shining oasis of free speech to a desert of discrimination that only serves to promote commercial messages of the network providers."
"Use of the Internet has allowed the Christian Coalition to amplify the voices of millions of hard-working, pro-family Americans in a way that has revolutionized their ability to be heard and to engage in the political process," said Michelle Combs, vice president of communications for the Christian Coalition of America. "We should not let the phone and cable companies interfere with that work."
Last month, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) joined with Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) to introduce the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act" (HR 5353), which would firmly re-establish crucial consumer protections in the Communications Act to ensure the Internet is open and free from discrimination.
"We cannot allow powerful phone and cable companies to control the Internet and decide which artists' ideas will live and which will die," said Timothy Karr, campaign director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. "Net Neutrality is the baseline protection that allows for this explosion of creativity. Without it, we may never get to see or hear the next OK Go."
For more information visit: http://www.SavetheInternet.com or http://www.futureofmusic.org/rockthenet/
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